Lyndale and Hennepin are peppered with a plethora of Asian fusion options

The sake martini is a nice excuse to linger, a lofty mix that's the
best of both drinks, garnished with a cucumber ribbon. If you're
feeling more playful, try the Japanese Green, a luminescent concoction
of rum, melon liqueur, and coconut that's topped with a maraschino
cherry and a paper umbrella. The prices, $6.95 and $6.25 respectively
for those two drinks, are decidedly less than what you'd expect to pay
in the area. (The Red Dragon's Wondrous Punch has crept up to a
wallet-shuddering $10.25.)

While Mt. Fuji does serve a few meat and seafood entrées and
noodle dishes, it's first and foremost a sushi spot. (I thought the ika
butter, or squid, appetizer was rather rubbery, but I would recommend
the shrimp in chile sauce, a sweet-tart, onion-studded riff on shrimp
cocktail.)

Liu describes Mt. Fuji's sushi as "French style," but I've also
heard the term "sosaku," or "creative," sushi tossed around, which
describes a fusion approach to creating elaborate rolls topped with
special sauces. Rolls might be stuffed with mango, wrapped in pink
soybean paper, and decorated with intricate edible garnishes—one
made from twisted daikon radish ribbons looked almost like a peony
blossom.

Not everything works. The lobster roll looked beautiful, garnished
with a crimson crustacean shell, but its tempura-fried flesh might have
been mistaken for shrimp, and its teriyaki-like glaze was too cloying.
The Uptown roll, which is lumps of spicy tuna and avocado wrapped with
salmon sashimi and drizzled with a miso sauce and spicy mayonnaise, had
lovely flavor but a mushy texture that was the edible equivalent of a
limp handshake. But when all systems are go, the result is a roll like
the Treasure Island, which tastes just like an adventure. The roll is
stuffed with yellowtail and tuna, accented with kampyo (a sweet pickled
gourd that tastes a bit like umi, or fermented plum), and topped with a
mound of sweet blue crab, a sprinkle of tiny tobiko bubbles, and
tempura crunches that reminded me of fried Rice Krispies.

I don't think either Mt. Fuji or Zen is trying to take on the
neighborhood heavyweights—Chino will always offer a livelier
scene, Jasmine Deli a better value, and Moto-i a superior sake
selection. But these restaurants' ambitions don't necessarily need to
be sky-high for the places to be successful. Zen's diverse menu is good
for groups who can't all agree on Chinese or Vietnamese or Thai. Mt.
Fuji's fusion approach is similar to Tiger Sushi's, yet its clubbier
atmosphere and more aggressive happy-hour pricing (select rolls are
discounted between a third and half off) will perhaps make it different
enough. Even if Zen and Mt. Fuji haven't yet proved themselves, they're
making the case that Uptown will always have room for a few more Asian
restaurants.